The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Great Acting & Moving Story

Many other reviewers have long said this story is depressing; it's true.

I found the movie quite disturbing, but real. The acting was raw and every character well developed and well acted. I did feel the story was flat and slow paced in parts and I did not like the ending.

This is not something I plan to own or ever watch again, but it is worth seeing. December 28, 2008

bone chilling drama at its best

The Sweet Hereafter is a film you're not likely to forget anytime soon. The movie portrays human beings as they can really be--greedy, confused after a huge tragic loss, in denial of guilt and more. The plot moves along at a good pace and the storyline is absolutely fascinating. Unfortunately, this movie is not for everyone since the plot is rather haunting and dark; this is anything but a family film. The actors do a superb job and the cinematography is excellent.

When the action begins, an ambulance chasing lawyer Mitchell Stevens (played by Ian Holm) races up to a small Canadian town after a school bus accident has cost the lives of most of the small town's children. Mitchell approaches the townsfolk to build a huge lawsuit against the people whom he believes he can determine to be guilty for having caused the accident. Perhaps the school bus wasn't regularly maintained--or maybe the manufacturer of the bus used poor quality bolts; Mitchell doesn't care, he just wants a piece of the action.

Of course, some embrace the idea of a lawsuit--but yet others want to forget about any trial and they make no bones about it. In particular, look for Tom McCamus who plays Sam Burnell, a father with a dirty secret and Sarah Polley plays Sam's daughter Nicole. While Sam wants the lawsuit to pay medical bills and probably make a buck off this lemon, his daughter Nicole is not so comfortable with this idea. We come to see that so many of the townsfolk have dark secrets of their own; and even the lawyer Mitchell Stevens has a rather troubled relationship with his daughter Zoë (played wonderfully by Caerthan Banks). There is also the very emotionally scarred bus driver who survived the accident, Dolores Discolt (Gabrielle Rose), who eventually makes it plain that she doesn't want to be judged in a court of law by a jury made up of people who don't know her at all.

As secrets and the rest of the plot unfold, questions arise: Will Dolores change her mind about the lawsuit and want it after all? What about the father of two children who saw the tragedy as he followed the bus in his pickup--will Billy (Bruce Greenwood) ever change his mind and decide a lawsuit is a good idea? And what about Mitchell's own relationship with his daughter Zoë--is there any hope for things to get better between the two of them? Keep an eye out for excellent, practically seamless flashbacks and flash forwards that really impress me with just how smoothly they are woven into the film.

The DVD comes with a plethora of extras: we get an audio commentary by film director Adam Egoyan; and there is a Charlie Rose interview with Egoyan as well. I especially liked the "Q & A" extra with several members of the cast. We even get some biographies and filmographies, too.

All in all, The Sweet Hereafter is an excellent film that I highly recommend. Reserve it for a time when you can handle a heavy film about people and how they can truly be when confronted with a seemingly insurmountable loss. You won't regret watching it.
December 25, 2008

Hauntingly beautiful!!

I saw this movie after I had read about it in a list of 100 daring movies. It truly is, in so many ways. The scene with the school bus is one I will never forget. There are many layers to this movie, and I enjoyed them. November 20, 2008

Quiet, dreamlike, somber, and riveting

Don't watch this if you are subject to becoming depressed by sad movies. The Sweet Hereafter is, however, one of those films that has a dreamlike quality that sucks you in. The art of it is very appealing to me. Some will say it is slow, too quiet, a downer. But I think the emotion of it provides more than enough intensity.

The movie is based on a novel which is itself somewhat based on a true story of a small town in Texas where tragically many of the town's children were killed in a schoolbus accident, and ambulance-chasing lawyers descended on the town like a swarm of hungry locusts. The townspeople eventually received hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from a company which may or may not have really been responsible for the accident.

The movie takes this premise in a different direction. It focuses on one lawyer who comes to town and interviews witnesses, survivors, and moms and dads who lost their kids. The lawyer himself is going through a vaguely similar personal crisis -- losing his daughter to drugs. Great disruption is bubbling in the town because of the tragedy and the impending, potentially enriching, lawsuit. The ending is a surprise, turning everything upside down for a reason that has nothing to do with the accident, and no one will ever likely know the real reason.

What is the movie really about? It is about grief turning to boiling anger, mixed with greed. It is about the secret lives of ordinary people in small towns. It is about how justice can be meted out in strange ways.

I saw this several years ago, and then again this week. Both times I was riveted. August 28, 2008

The Sweet Hereafter Platinum Series

Great movie, but the promised extras in the "Platinum Series" fell short. In fact, one menu item didn't even play. July 4, 2008

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